Police say they have no evidence of foul play in the hanging death of North Carolina teen Lennon Lacy. (ms vdo)

(Newser)
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Lennon Lacy's autopsy report is out, but it does little to quell the sinister mystery surrounding the North Carolina teen's death. Lennon, 17, died from suffocation as a result of hanging, it says, adding that the dark abrasion circling his neck and the buckle mark under his ear were caused by the noose made of belts that was tied to the swing set where he was found in Bladenboro on Aug. 29. But the autopsy gives no clues as to how the high school junior got there, and Lennon's family still insists didn't kill himself. The autopsy report does, however, mention that Lennon had reportedly "been depressed over the recent death of his uncle," an inclusion the teen's brother says is suspicious. "An autopsy cannot determine whether a person was depressed—you can’t tell that from physical signs, so why was it put in the report?" Pierre Lacy tells the Guardian.

A NAACP lawyer working with the Lacy family agrees, saying suicide may have been presumed going into the autopsy, when "all our evidence suggests that Lennon was relieved that his great uncle had died after a long and painful illness, and that he was looking forward to his football game that night." Also odd: The autopsy report doesn't mention shoes among its list of the clothing he was found in (the family was told Lennon was found wearing white sneakers in the wrong size that relatives didn't recognize), nor does it mention a bump seen on Lennon's forehead by relatives and the funeral director. And no DNA swabs seem to have been taken to determine whether anyone else's DNA was present on Lennon's body. The family is considering exhuming the body to have an independent autopsy conducted, and the NAACP wants to talk to the chief medical examiner. Click for more on Lennon's death.

I certainly do not want the sympathy of any white person but, it really breaks my heart how close-minded some people can be knowing the history of how blacks were treated, although that time period has passed its very prevalent and you chose not to see this because being in our shoes are very much impossible. You don't have to worry about not being backed up. None of us know exactly how this kid died. However, after years and years of open white supremacist, hate crimes and mistreatment among blacks; NOT IMPLYING THAT WE ARE OWED ANYTHING (the only thing I am owed is the protection the law promised me), because quite frankly, its up to me and only me to pull away from that oppression that I am deeply rooted with and I would like nothing better than not eating out of the hands that THINK they are feeding me, I want no help from the people who want nothing other than for me to fail at life and place me in their made up statistics about how uneducated and ignorant blacks are; the past, well, its simply very hard to forget, but, I feel as if these people have a right to expect foul play in any situation where there is suspicion that there is a potential hate crime against a race (ANY RACE FOR THAT MATTER). Yes, I know these things didn't happen to my generation, but we can still feel the hate we get from some white people. Even after laws were passed that were supposed to disintegrate the mistreatment of blacks, some were still attacked and it's still happening today in all sorts of aspects. We have no choice but to keep defending ourselves, we were hated and it seems like we still are with some whites threatening to kill us all off. What else can we do other than fight back now that we have the chance to because as sad as it is racism exists and its strong. You want to deny it because of the fact that we are free and are offered the same opportunities, but that doesn't take it away. Like I said before blacks were killed for a plethora of reasons. So if someone wants to make something a race issue, stop being the first to blurt out "oh you people always want to pull the race card", if we're pulling the race card its simply because some of us want to prevent history from repeating itself. P.S.: if you are going to make a response to this post don't go about posting how blacks like to live off of the government with their foodstamps, welfare, section 8, etc;, because I can assure you it may be a majority, but it is not all blacks. Black people as well as whites (this i have witnessed) use government assistance. Just like some blacks, some white people aren't educated; just like some blacks, some white people act foolish in public as well as the way they carry themselves. Yes, I also know that there were other people who were captured as slaves and mistreated in other places, but guess what, we're in America, and this post pertains to racism in America. No, I am certainly not racist I'm just stating facts, clearly race is an issue and no I am not using slavery as justification for blacks to feel such a way about racist acts, its deeper than slavery, its the treatment after slavery :) thanks just putting that out there before some of you waste your time writing some lame response. AND HELL IF YOU SAW A WHITE TEENAGER HUNG IN A BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD WHAT'S GOING TO BE THE HEADLINE? "MALE TEEN FOUND HUNG ON A SWINGSET, INVESTIGATION RULES IT A HOMICIDE"

mommy_love

Oct 17, 2014 9:33 AM CDT

Hopefully they can get some answers...I have been thru this situation and it sucks to have to always wonder what the truth is! My brother died from hanging and it was ruled a suicide. He was going thru a breakup and he called his wife to have her bring their 5 month old daughter to him for the weekend, he clled me to make plans for the next day and planned on attending church with his daughter that Sunday. I got a phone call from his wife and she said, you and your mom need to come here asap, something is wrong with your brother and you guys need to talk to him! I woke my mom up and she called my grandfather (where my brother was living) and asked to put him on the phone, my grandfather said, he's dead, come here now! We get there and he was hanging from a light post, his knees were bent and his feet were on the ground (he could have easily stood up) there was a wheelbarrow knocked over on the other side of the pole (how did it get on the other side if that's what he was standing on when he hung himself???) there was a large number of cigarette butts littering the area around his body (3 different brands) and only 1 brand was what my brother smoked. He called his wife around 5, she lived less than 2 miles away and was scheduled to be there with their daughter at 5:30, she called us, from her home phone at 8, and supposedly she pulled into the driveway, got out and approached him, determined that he was dead, got back into her car, drove to her house and called us. She never called 911, none of the neighbors heard or saw anything, the door to the house was unlocked so y go all the way home, y not scream for help and go inside to call 911??? There were various injuries noted on the autopsy, cuts and bruises on knuckles, marks on face, bump on head, mud on his shoes and knees of his pants, scraped up area (it looked like he struggled with someone) next to the garage. The police never even investigated his death!!! They spoke to his wife who told them that he had been depressed and told her that he would kill himself if she left him. They didn't even want to hear what WE had to say, that yeah he was pissed, he caught his wife cheating on him! Her father had threatened to kill him, in front of wirnesses, cuz she told her dad he hit her and that's y she left him. They didn't talk to the guy that he had spent the day with (that last known person to see him alive) to hear how good his mood was, that he had made plans for the near future, that he met a girl and had made plans to take her out the next weekend. To this day, I am sure that her father /or new bf def had something to do with his death!!!

viva_yo

Oct 16, 2014 7:52 PM CDT

Most murder investigations in this country are cursory, unless you're a VIP. Murder investigation shows such as "Cold Justice", frequently find damning evidence which was there all along but which no one bothered to follow-up during the initial investigation.